Marilyn Flowers and Ian Lange	Light Saber combat resolution ...

Anakin to the Rescue ...

The field remained stable despite Gungan weather and the game being long out of print. As usual, players who can't handle the time-pressure fell by the wayside as they crapped out with the Naboo and whimpered about the unfair nature of the format and how "it sucks to be the Naboo!" This year's overall outcome was again close to a 50-50 split.

38 games were played In the preliminary heats in three separate heats with the Trade Federation winning 22. There is no time limit in the preliminaries and this usually slants the game towards the Naboo. However, this year there was a marked advantage to the evil ones. In the time-limited playoffs, things continued to be unusual as the Naboo won nine of 15, even though the Trade Federation wins if it is still standing after two hours. Overall, the combined tally was 25 wins for Yoda and 28 for Darth Sidious.

Special thanks are in order for Bill "General Grevious" Morse for his invaluable efforts as an Assistant Game Master for his organizational and clerical skills.

Congratulations follow for Jonathan Schoose, who won seven games without a loss as the Naboo. Jonathan is sometimes erroneously referred to as "Young Bert," but after his performance in the grueling ten-hour single elimination on Friday, it might be more appropriate if his father was instead referred to as "Old Jonathan."

We almost had a shortage of games due to "Mother Nature's" interference on Wednesday night. Three players refused to retrieve their invaluable games from their cars, and thereby chance the spectacular wind, lightning and monsoon rain. Fortunately, just enough games were available to accommodate the field.

16 of the usual characters advanced to the playoffs without two past champs, Nick Page and Bill Morse, who failed to advance. Three other titlists remained in the hunt.

In the opening round of the elimination gauntlet, Marilyn "Purple Queen" Flowers downed 2005 champ Karl "Sith Witch" Henning, Keith "Crab Droid" Corbino clobbered Nick "Arc Trooper" Avtges, Brian "Bossk" Sutton dispatched three-time champ Larry "Red Queen" Lingle, Andrew "Acklay" Sinigaglio clawed Tom "Tusken Raider" Strock, Ted "Tamtel Skreeg" Lange speared Gino "Greedo" Sinigaglio, David "The Hutt" Gubbay slimed Carolyn "Guri" Strock, Ken "Kit Fisto" Whitesell walloped Evan "Ephant Mon" Cagwin and Jonathan "Jacen Solo" Schnoose barely sliced by Papa "Ponda Baba" Strock.

In the quarterfinals Schoose put the hurt on Whitesell when Anakin blew through the last starfighter space even though it was packed with four additional star fighter cards. Corbino made toast out of Flowers as his Darth Maul killed Quigon and Obiwan while his droids wiped out the Gungans. Lange won a tight match vs Gubbay as the latter's Maul killed Quigon, but Maul was dropped by Obiwan. Jabba's droids exterminated the Gungans, but Anakin shut down the droids. In the last game Sutton bludgeoned Andrew Sinigaglio as his Darth Maul killed Quigon, Obiwan and many others while Anakin was getting nowhere.

In the semifinals Schoose easily dispatched Lange as Anakin did the hot knife through butter act in a rapid and successful flight to shut down the droids. Meanwhile, Corbino, playing the evil side, slaughtered two-time champ Sutton, Quigon, Obiwan and almost all of the palace guards.

In the title game, Corbino was again the evil side and quickly gained the upper hand over Schoose. Darth Maul killed Quigon on the second turn while Droideka and battle droids were slaughtering the palace guards, the real queen and Captain Panaka. However, while Corbino was winning the battle, Anakin won the war. Schoose started with a hand full of Anakin cards to Corbino's one star fighter card. Anakin went 5 for 5 in Anakin rolls, shutting down the droids and winning the game and title in record time. The Final had lasted all of 25 minutes.

Ken Whitesell and Carolyn Strock	Andy Latto and Alex Lange